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1. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:02 pm

   No. Only in Searchlight. And it was just to watch him give me that look.

2. Dave Vogt on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:21 pm

   No, I’ve never had the chance, but I hear that shooting a man in Reno is beautiful this time of year.

3. Michael Smith on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:22 pm

   Ok. So I’m going to tell this story now, here, because you asked for it:

   The bike trail I use frequently is directly across the river from Folsom Prison. Recently they opened this new, fancy bridge across the river. Sam suggested we ride across the bridge and into Folsom to get in a little more climbing than usual.

   So, I’m climbing the hill directly across the road from the main entrance to the prison and an alarm starts to sound. This was no ordinary alarm, this was on scale with an air raid siren and I jumped (a difficult thing to do on a bike). I imagined a swarm of prisoners coming through the gate, armed with sharpened toothbrushes.

   That didn’t happen. I never did find out what the alarm was all about, but it was silent when we rode back down the hill and it has not happened again since.

4. Michael Smith on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:22 pm

   I hear it’s about the only thing to do in Reno.

5. Cindy Scroggins on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:24 pm

   See. You need only to know how to ask the right questions, folks.

6. Cindy Scroggins on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:28 pm

   Did I ever tell y’all the story I read about Kris Kristofferson (I think it was in Rolling Stone) where he recalled sitting with Johnny Cash at June Carter’s funeral? Cash was sitting next to the open casket, and people were filing by, paying their respects. One guy saw Kristofferson sitting there and said, “Wow, Kris Kristofferson! You’re my favorite singer of all time.” As the man walked away, Cash leaned over to Kristofferson and whispered in his ear, “Well, there’s one.”

7. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:34 pm

   Shoot. They never built a new, fancy bridge from Alcatraz to the mainland.

8. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:41 pm

   And you got the knack, Cindy.

   You know the game of Hangman (or Hang the Dutchman), right?

   Okay, when Melanie and I were eleven or so (around the time of the Faustian Vomiting Opera), we liked to play Hang the Dutchman, but we eschewed familiar phrases. It was more fun to make up our own nonsense.

9. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:45 pm

   Dang phone. Dang distractions.

   So I meant to continue.

   I can’t recall the first part of this Hangman/Dutchman puzzler, but it went something like: “By day I ________, and at night I dream of Harold’s Club in Reno, Nevada.”

   We were an odd pair of kids.

10. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    No. It was “but at night I dream of Harold’s Club in Reno, Nevada.”

11. Cindy Scroggins on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    Odd ducks, you were.

12. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    You bet.

    Sixth grade. Lunchtime in the school cafeteria.

    Melanie: Hey, y’all? Last night I had this real odd dream about Solomon Burke.

13. Coop on October 23rd, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    No, but I had to mercy-kill a gecko today which I found dying in pain in my little tool shed. It hurt me.

14. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 4:07 pm

    Cooper, maybe your accidental photograph was of the transit of the gecko.

    It takes a kind of courage to put a suffering creature out of misery.

15. Rick Neece on October 23rd, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    Y’all ever had a Friday humming along nicely where in the afternoon just an hour before quittin’ time the boss drops a bomb of an email YELLING about shit he said narry about all week having seen the daily report where we were telling him everything going on all week and making you feel like a failure (whether he was talking to you or not) where your heart fills up with adreneline and your head feels like it’s going to explode and you have to leave right then and take a company truck home (so you can come back in the morning and check the mail to see if there are any more checks to deposit) where on the road you stop at Blockbuster and pick up three (you’re sure) piece-of-crap movies and stop by Papa Murphy’s to get a couple pizzas that’re sure to clog your arteries and while they’re piecing together the pizzas you trot two doors down to get a big jug of Juice (e.g. Smirnoff) and a pack of Camel Wide Lights so you can hope the combination can settle the juices in your stomach working overtime because…?

    Well…Reno, just now sounds like the right place to be. Second only to where I’m sittin’ just now, on the patio where I’m startin’ to get a little too cold, simmering down.

16. Cindy Scroggins on October 23rd, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    Oh, Rick, you need some fuzzy house shoes. If you want, I’ll haul the boss to Reno and shoot him for you. Really, I will.

17. Rick Neece on October 23rd, 2009 at 5:53 pm

    Thanks Cindy darlin’. It won’t be necessary. I’ve simmered down a bunch. I sure appreciate the offer though. I think I see the work to do. By Monday I’m sure I’ll have a plan.

18. Coop on October 23rd, 2009 at 6:05 pm

    And remember those other oss words, Rick: loss, hoss, ossify. Boss is not in good company.

19. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 6:23 pm

    Rick. Punkin. Meet me in Reno.

20. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 7:09 pm

    Big Loss Man. Big Hoss Man. Big Ossified Man.

    Not talking about anyone in particular.

21. Amanda Mae Meyncke on October 23rd, 2009 at 8:08 pm

    RICKY I AM DRINKING VODKA WITH ORANGE JUICE AND SMOKING AND THINKING OF YOUUUUU.

22. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 8:13 pm

    Cooper’s dispatching of the gecko — that still seems brave to me.

23. Rick Neece on October 23rd, 2009 at 8:15 pm

    I’m mulling it over, y’all. Stay tuned, OK?

    *thanks for the good support*

24. Rick Neece on October 23rd, 2009 at 8:30 pm

    Oh, Cooper. Sorry. I read your gecko comment. I oncet , years ago, dispatched a mouse who was whacked by a trap I’d set. He wasn’t “caught” by it. He waddled his way squeeking up the hallway of our trailer-house. The “crease” of the trap across his forehead. I knew I needed to do something, grabbed the closest thing at hand–a tennis shoe and thwapped him on the head with the heel of it. Took three thwapps. Made me sickish. In the moment, I wondered about the kindness of the universe. And my own.

25. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 8:34 pm

    Funny how squeamish we’ve grown, yes? (And I include myself.)

26. Rick Neece on October 23rd, 2009 at 8:40 pm

    Squeamish, yes. And yet, in the moment of honest action we may still do the right thing. Whatever that may be? Maybe?

27. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 8:44 pm

    Oh, yes, Rick. Action is life, and I like to think that at times we recognize right action.

28. Rick Neece on October 23rd, 2009 at 9:00 pm

    Sheila, Amanda, Cooper
    This story I’m reminded of will have to wait for another day, if it ever gets told. Thank you for hanging out with me.
    XOR

29. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 9:11 pm

    Ricky. Cameron. We’ll be around. Don’t you just know it.

30. Sheila Ryan on October 23rd, 2009 at 9:13 pm

    Cindy. See what you done started.

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